The present invention relates to a brake shoe assembly.
There is already known a brake shoe assembly comprising a carrier plate, to which friction material is secured, and a brake shoe spring having between its ends an arcuate or loop-shaped portion which is supported in a recess in the brake shoe, this recess being open towards the edge of the brake shoe, with the largest width of the recess being greater than the smallest width of the opening. A conventional brake shoe assembly of this type is known from the German printed and published patent application No. 29 37 149. In this construction, the brake shoe spring is held in the recess of the carrier plate radially and simultaneously in a circumferential direction of the brake shoe due to the engagement of the spring at least with the surface bounding the recess. The brake shoe holding spring is retained in position in axial direction of the recess, that is, normal to the peripheral opening of the recess, only due to the frictional contact between the brake shoe holding spring and carrier plate. This frictional contact is attributable to the clamping engagement between the loop-shaped portion of the brake shoe spring and the surface bounding the recess. If, for instance, the amount of friction between the ends of the brake shoe spring, which bear against a brake housing part, and the brake housing part is higher than the amount of friction between the loop-shaped portion and the recess, the brake shoe spring is not able to follow the movement of the brake shoe in the event of an axial displacement of the brake shoe, such as that resulting from the wear of the friction material. When this occurs, the brake shoe spring slips out of the recess and can no more fulfill its function.